List of Musical Intervals - Music Theory

What is an Interval ?

An interval is the distance between two notes, each one is represented by a number (1,2,3,4,5,6,7...) and a prefix related to its quality ("M" for major, m for minor, "P" for perfect, "d" for diminished and "A" for augmented). There are five different qualities.

An interval can be melodic, when the tones are successive (played one after the other) and harmonic, if the notes are stacked (played simultaneously). Knowing the name of each interval on guitar and on any other instrument is very important. Intervals are essential elements of music theory. Intervals are very useful to understand how chords and scales are built. This article shows you how to make the difference between them.

Interval Names - Simple and Compound

What Are the Types of Intervals?

This chart shows the names of the most used intervals while at the same time demonstrating the relation between a simple interval and its related compound interval. You must know that a simple interval is less than an octave and a compound interval is larger than an octave.

Simple interval

Number

Compound interval

Number

Second

2

Ninth

9

Third

3

Tenth

10

Fourth

4

Eleventh

11

Fifth

5

Twelvth

12

Sixth

6

Thirteenth

13

Seventh

7

Fourteenth

14

Octave

8

Double Octave

15

Interval Qualities

Intervals Are Divided Into 5 Qualities :

Major (2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th)

Minor (2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th)

Perfect (4th and 5th)

Diminished (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th)

Augmented (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th)

The major prefix is only used for seconds (2), thirds (3), sixth (6) and seventh (7). Major intervals are usually labeled with a "M".

The minor prefix is also used for seconds (2), thirds (3), sixth (6) and seventh (7). In this case, minor intervals are labeled with a small "m".

Perfect intervals are labeled with a "P". They include the fourth (4th) and the fifth (5th). They are so-called because of their perfect consonance. The augmented quality is especially applied to perfect intervals (fourth and fifth) and sometimes to seconds and thirds. It means that they are augmented with a semitone.

Augmented intervals are labelled with an "A" or sometimes with "Aug" or "+".

Diminished intervals are created when a fourth is lowered by a half-step (semitone) although more rarely 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th are concerned. They are labeled with a small "d" and abbreviated "dim" and even written with a "o".

This overview chart provide a reference point to determine the different possible qualities.

Minor

Shortened

Major

Shortened

Perfect

Shortened

Augmented

Shortened

Diminished

Shortened

Second

1 semitone

m2

2 semitones

M2

3 semitones

A2

1 semitone

d2

Third

3 semitones

m3

4 semitones

M3

5 semitones

A3

1 semitone

d3

Fourth

5 semitones

P4

6 semitones

A4

4 semitones

d4

Fifth

7 semitones

P5

8 semitones

A5

6 semitones

d5

Sixth

8 semitones

m6

9 semitones

M6

10 semitones

A6

7 semitones

d6

Seventh

10 semitones

m7

11 semitones

M7

12 semitones

A7

9 semitones

d7

NON EXISTANT

RARE

EXISTANT

Inverted, enharmonic and complementary intervals

What's an Inverted Interval ?

A simple interval can be inverted by raising the lower tone an octave or lowering the lower tone an octave. In other words, this is an interval whose lower tone is switched with the highest. For example, when a minor second interval (C and D) is inverted it becomes a major seventh interval (D and C).

Here is a list of the intervals and their inversions.

Interval

Inversion

1 (unisson)

1 (unisson)

m2 (minor second)

M7 (Major seventh)

M2 (Major second)

m7 (minor seventh)

m3 (minor seventh)

M6 (Major sixth)

M3 (Major third)

m6 (minor sixth)

P4 (perfect fourth)

P5 (perfect fifth)

A4 (Augmented fourth)

d5 (diminished fifth)

d5 (diminished fifth)

A4 (Augmented fourth)

P5 (perfect fifth)

P4 (perfect fourth)

A5 (Augmented fifth)

d4 (dimished fourth)

m6 (minor sixth)

M3 (Major third)

M6 (Major sixth)

m3 (minor third)

m7 (minor seventh)

M2 (Major second)

M7 (Major seventh)

m2 (minor second)

What Are Complementary Intervals ?

Two intervals are complementary when the addition of these two intervals give an octave. This is the addition of an interval and its inversion. Check out the chart above, you can see that m2 (1semitone) and its inversion M7 (11 semitones) are complementary. 1 + 11 = 12 semitones needed to get an octave.

What Are Enharmonic Intervals ?

Enharmonic intervals have the same sound, but are named differently. The most known are the augmented fourth and the diminished fifth. These intervals divide the octave into two equal parts. That's what we call "the tritone" which is built with three whole steps (6 semitones).

Augmented second (A2)

Minor third (m3)

diminished seventh (d7)

Major sixth (M6)

Major third (M3)

Diminished fourth (d4)

Minor sixth (m6)

Augmented fifth (A5)

Augmented fourth (A4)

Diminished fifth (d5)

Consonant and Dissonant Intervals

Intervals can be consonant or dissonant. Consonant intervals are stable, pleasant and agreeable. Dissonant intervals are tense and have to be resolved to consonant intervals.

Consonant intervals can be divided into two groups : perfect and imperfect.

Dissonant intervals can be divided into two categories: sharp and soft.

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